Cygnets to be Named by Public at The Bishop’s Palace

Following the news at the weekend that 7 cygnets have hatched on the nest at The Bishop’s Palace in Wells, the Palace has now asked the public to send in their suggestions to name them.

The 2020 Cygnet Naming Competition asks people to submit names by email or social media by 12pm on Wednesday 13th May.

So far, the new cygnets have proved to be extremely popular, with viewers from as far afield as Australia and the USA watching the 24 hour Swan Cam which is trained on the nest, and over 130,000 reached on social media with swan-related posts!

The Palace swans, Grace and Gabriel, seems to be delighted with their brood and whilst they’ve been enjoying the peace and quiet of the Moat as the site is currently closed to visitors due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they have started to venture out on to the public side of the site, where they’ve been much appreciated by the public of Wells.

Fans of the Palace social media sites were delighted to see a video yesterday of Grace and Gabriel already teaching the new cygnets how to ring the famous Gatehouse bell for food, with one clever cygnet quickly getting the hang of grabbing the rope with his beak.

The Palace has already received hundreds of suggestions of names for the cygnets, from the comical (the names of the seven dwarfs from Snow White), and the outrageous (Boris Swanson) to the more serious including ideas to recognise key workers, hospital names, and names of recently deceased.